Our planned stop after leaving Manapouri was Dunedin however in true G & M style, we like to make our life complicated. We had talked ourselves in to a three hour detour just to stand on Slope Point. The southernmost tip of South Island, New Zealand. A yellow AA sign points to the south pole and the equator, highlighting the extreme southern location. It really was the road to nowhere but we have the photo to prove that we’ve been there. It was freezing cold, wet and windy.
Onwards to Dunedin for two nights. M wasn’t sure as it’s a large city (for New Zealand) however it was a good choice. The architecture around the city is a mix of Victorian/Gothic and Art Deco, some lovely buildings in their original condition. The star of the city though is the railway station, dating back to 1906 built in a Flemish Renaissance style, the booking hall features a floor mosaic with 750,000 Royal Doulton porcelain tiles. It really is a masterpiece. On the first floor of the station building is a sports hall of fame, featuring stories and memorabilia of New Zealand’s sporting heroes. A pit stop at the Speights brewery before heading back to catch up on some sleep. We were still “jaded” from our Doubtful Sound trip. The following morning before leaving Dunedin, we had one final place to visit – Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. Yes we did walk up it and can confirm that it is steep!
Next overnight stop Oamaru, however we’d highlighted some stop off points on the way. Katiki Point lighthouse was first. As we pulled up we saw the tiny lighthouse and thought, this will be a quick visit. What we hadn’t realised was a large colony of fur seals lived just off the headland. We spent an age just watching them lolloping around, lots of young seals as well. It was lovely to see them undisturbed in their natural habitat, just being seals. Heading further up the coast our next stop was Moeraki Boulders Beach, massive spherical boulders line the beach. Formed from ancient seafloor mudstone over millions of years. Another good find. Eventually arrived in Oamaru for the night, what’s worth mentioning is the delicious roast dinner we had in a cafe, that the owner of the cottage recommended to us. Took a walk around the victorian precinct, saw the steampunk museum and went to see if we could spot the penguins coming home, unfortunately no sighting of them.
Twizel had been chosen as it’s convenient for travelling to Mount Cook national park. The journey from Oamaru wasn’t that exciting but as we reached Twizel we saw turquoise lakes and mountains. We’d planned a full day out the next day, so we just had a walk around the Lake Ruataniwha and a takeaway pizza. The drive to the national park took a couple of hours due to frequent photo stops. First up was a lavender farm for an ice cream then onwards along Lake Pukaki towards Mount Cook. We set off on the Hooker Valley track, but discovered only a third of the track is open due to a landslide last year. The walk took around an hour but great views of Mount Sefton, the glacier and the Hooker lake/river. We even heard some glacial movement, a low rumble and cracking around the glacier. Another trek (this time more arduous) up to the Tasman lake then onwards and upwards to the river. Mount Cook was covered in cloud, we just saw the snow covered tip peeking through. We were hoping to see icebergs in the Tasman river, however no luck. Feeling satisfied, we set off to drive back to Twizel for our final night.
Time was flying by and we were now three stops away from leaving New Zealand, with Christmas sandwiched in between those stops. Ashburton next, we used to live in Ashburton, Devon! We just wanted a couple of quiet days to catch up on admin, washing, trip planning and slow down a little. That said whilst there we found another restaurant serving a roast dinner, went to an aviation museum and then the town museum.
Heading right in to Christmas we stocked up with food, drink and Christmas treats then set off for Diamond Harbour, not far way (as the crow flies) from Christchurch. The room had the most amazing view and fortunately we had a balcony to sit out and enjoy the view. Christmas Eve, we took the ferry across to Lyttleton for a quick wander around, in the evening we ate at the local brewery and saw Father Christmas turn up in the fire truck. M elbowed the kids out of the way for a photo. Christmas Day was going to be very different! We woke up and headed off with a picnic to the local beach, All too soon the clouds decided to roll our way, so thinking on our feet we came up with Plan B. We drove over the Banks Peninsula, formed from two extinct volcanoes to Akaroa. Akaroa was founded by French settlers back in 1840 and still has a strong French influence. If we are lucky enough to return to New Zealand, we would love to explore this area further. Boxing Day arrived far too quickly and we drove the short distance over to Christchurch, handed back our faithful hire car “Gavin Still’ spent two nights in Christchurch before our onward flight to Australia – Sydney for New Year.
